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Re: My new project - lightening my henndigo

Although sceptical as to whether this would work, I tried colour B4 (which I bought in Boots in the UK) on my henndigo.

Whilst it did not lighten very much, it was no longer purplish black....more a cooler dark brown.....hmmmmm interesting!

Second experiment: using conventional bleach over coconut oiled hair

Ok, ok I know that I risked frog butt green , I've been around henndigo long enough and read the horror stories.....

But I've often thought that if henna is red/orange, and indigo is blue, if you carefully, carefully lighten the hair a tiny bit, it must be possible to get a light brown / goldish shade similar to that which people have reported mixing henna and indigo dry and applying before dye release etc....(for more discussion on this, see the H4H forum ...although that has been updated recently and I can't find the thread....basically people were mixing half and half henna and indigo, leaving it for an hour, and then applying for maybe 2 hours....)

So, tonight I heavily oiled my hair with coconut oil, and then mixed my Jerome BBlonde bleach....I applied it and then left it ten minutes only, not the 90 min that the pack recommended!

When I rinsed, I was shocked that my hair felt pretty soft, and also that I had a range of tones on the light bits, from light reddish brown (I expected this of course with the henna, and it is a nice tone so this is good ), to an ashy brown (these bits maybe would have gone green if I'd left the bleach on longer) and even a few golden brown strands

Now, it is NOT a dramatic change. But it is there....I will try and get pics but it is a bit hard to do alone, maybe outside at the weekend if it is sunny so the tones show!

I am oiling overnight just to be on the safe side, and will report back on the condition tomorrow.....and then there is a break to pamper my hair before the next experiment.

The main thing for me this time is I am not expecting a dramatic change fast, I am doing this slowly! This is quite a change of approach for me, but in the end I really do not want to damage my hair so badly that I have to cut......

The journey continues!

Evie Lady Evye Guardian of the Natural Order in the Order of the Long Haired Knights!Taking a general break from the boards in 2012, but will be working on my blog......

Re: My new project - lightening my henndigo

Sounds great! I would love to hear about your results and see pictures further along, because I have been contemplating on trying to lighten my hair as well. Although I would probably get different results since mine is dyed with lush henna in rouge and noir, which just made it brown. But I just really want to see my real color. Haven't seen it in 7 years since I was 13. Good luck on your project

Re: My new project - lightening my henndigo

I can't wait to see pics and to hear how your further experiments go!

I've been henndigoing my salt and pepper hair for almost three years now, but since I'm getting more and more grays I plan to go natural in the future and it would be really nice to lighten the color without going green or destroying my hair!

Re: My new project - lightening my henndigo

Ok, so some pics so far....

This is pretty much what I started with....

And after the 2 experiments above, it now looks like....

This:

The flash is different (it is a differnet camera, sorry) but the lighter areas are there, it is so hard to photograph - I did not apply bleach uniformly all over, I focused on the ends, and on pulling it through strands to try and break up the dark tone, rather than have it everywhere, just in case it went green!!! It also has some oil in it too still.

Condition wise, I covered it in coconut oil and slept in it last night, then washed the oil off this morning with a normall shampoo and condish, and all seems fine, no breakage or snapping etc.

The next plan will be to do some sun-in (using Nightshade's method) on the front layers around my face, and maybe go over it with a strawberry blonde pale colour, but interesting so far! It is definitely ashier too, which looks more natural on me

Evie Lady Evye Guardian of the Natural Order in the Order of the Long Haired Knights!Taking a general break from the boards in 2012, but will be working on my blog......

Re: My new project - lightening my henndigo

Thanks

It is so hard to show it - the major difference is that the red 'flare' from the henna is gone, and the almost black has lightened up to an ashier brown, but try to get that looking like it does IRL in a picture

Evie Lady Evye Guardian of the Natural Order in the Order of the Long Haired Knights!Taking a general break from the boards in 2012, but will be working on my blog......